WHIC
Encyclopedia
WHIC is a Catholic
radio station broadcasting from Rochester, New York
. WHIC is located at 1460 on the AM dial. Referred to as The Station of the Cross
, WHIC is owned and operated by Holy Family Communications. The station began broadcasting Catholic programming on July 1, 2003. Broadcasting at 5000 watts in the daytime and 5400 watts at night, WHIC's calls represent The Holy and Immaculate Conception, to whom this station is dedicated.
, publishers of the Democrat and Chronicle
, in 1936. Until 1941 the station used a number of broadcast frequencies, but had settled on 1430 kHz by 1928 operating first with 500 and later with 1000 watts from a transmitter on Mt. Read Boulevard in the northwest portion of the city of Rochester. Following the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement
(NARBA) in 1941, WHEC was reassigned to 1460 kHz, and after the war boosted power to 5,000 watts from new transmitting facilities south of the city in Brighton, New York
. In the 1950s and 1960s WHEC broadcast popular music along with local and CBS news, sharing staff and some news content with sister television station WHEC-TV
. Gannett placed the station up for sale in the summer of 1971, and found a purchaser in Sande Broadcasting Company, a partnership of local investors and broadcast managers.
After the sale was finalized in 1972, the new owners rebranded the station WAXC ("Waxy"), and changed format to compete with the top station in the market WBBF
by playing Top 40 hits. Through much of the decade of the 1970s WAXC was relatively successful both financially and in popularity (as measured by Arbitron ratings). But after 7 years of competition, toward the end of which FM stations started to cut into the audiences and revenues of both WAXC and WBBF, the callsign WAXC was retired and the station sold to American General Media, beginning the era of WWWG ("3WG"). At first the station operated with a full-service adult contemporary format reminiscent of the final years of Gannett ownership, competing directly with big-signal WHAM. But the station's more limited AM signal proved to be a greater liability at a time when suburbanization was spreading out the market's population geographically beyond the station's reliable nighttime pattern, and FM competition was growing. So the days of secular contemporary-format programming came to an end early in the 1980s.
American General Media repositioned the station as a religious outlet and announced that the callsign WWWG (originally chosen simply as an easily remembered brand name) would stand for "Where We Worship God". While most Rochester commercial stations had broadcast various church and synagogue services and other religious programming at some point in their history, and Pat Robertson's CBN network had owned a chain of rural FM stations whose signals could be heard in portions of the market, WWWG's policy of religious programming around the clock earned it the distinction of being the city of Rochester's first fulltime religious radio station. WWWG offered a mix of evangelical religious programming among other brokered shows
.
In the summer of 2003 WWWG was purchased by Buffalo based Holy Family Communications to become the network's fourth Catholic radio venture. Holy Family created The Station of the Cross
as a network name and rebranded 1460 as WHIC, for the "Holy and Immaculate Conception". The similarity of the new name to the original WHEC (whose calls carry on by the local television station, WHEC-TV
), may certainly also be a nod to the historic roots of the station. WHIC began carrying Catholic programming 24 hours a day, with much of the content provided by the EWTN Catholic Radio Network.
You can visit WHIC's website here http://www.whicradio.com/
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
radio station broadcasting from Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
. WHIC is located at 1460 on the AM dial. Referred to as The Station of the Cross
The Station of the Cross
The Station of the Cross is a network of Catholic radio stations owned and operated by Holy Family Communications. It is an affiliate of the EWTN Global Catholic Radio network.- Current stations :-Former stations:- External links :*...
, WHIC is owned and operated by Holy Family Communications. The station began broadcasting Catholic programming on July 1, 2003. Broadcasting at 5000 watts in the daytime and 5400 watts at night, WHIC's calls represent The Holy and Immaculate Conception, to whom this station is dedicated.
History
WHIC enjoys a legacy in Rochester's broadcast history. The station became Rochester's second radio operation in 1925 when the Hickson Electric Company launched the station as WHEC. It was the city's CBS Radio Network affiliate from the moment the network began operation in the late 1920s, and was acquired by the Gannett CompanyGannett Company
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
, publishers of the Democrat and Chronicle
Democrat and Chronicle
The Democrat and Chronicle is the most widely circulated daily newspaper in the greater Rochester, New York area. Located at 55 Exchange Boulevard in downtown Rochester, the Democrat and Chronicle operates under the ownership of Gannett. The paper's production facility is located in the town of...
, in 1936. Until 1941 the station used a number of broadcast frequencies, but had settled on 1430 kHz by 1928 operating first with 500 and later with 1000 watts from a transmitter on Mt. Read Boulevard in the northwest portion of the city of Rochester. Following the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement
North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement
The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement, usually referred to as NARBA, is a treaty that took effect in March 1941 and set out the bandplan and interference rules for mediumwave AM broadcasting in North America. Although mostly replaced by other agreements in the 1980s, the basic bandplan...
(NARBA) in 1941, WHEC was reassigned to 1460 kHz, and after the war boosted power to 5,000 watts from new transmitting facilities south of the city in Brighton, New York
Brighton, New York
There are several places named Brighton in New York State. They are:*Brighton, Franklin County, New York*Brighton, Monroe County, New York*Brighton, Syracuse, New York is a neighborhood in Syracuse, New York...
. In the 1950s and 1960s WHEC broadcast popular music along with local and CBS news, sharing staff and some news content with sister television station WHEC-TV
WHEC-TV
WHEC-TV, channel 10, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Rochester, New York, USA. WHEC-TV is owned by Saint Paul, Minnesota-based Hubbard Broadcasting, and broadcasts from a studio/office facility on East Avenue in Downtown Rochester...
. Gannett placed the station up for sale in the summer of 1971, and found a purchaser in Sande Broadcasting Company, a partnership of local investors and broadcast managers.
After the sale was finalized in 1972, the new owners rebranded the station WAXC ("Waxy"), and changed format to compete with the top station in the market WBBF
WBBF
WBBF is a radio station located in Buffalo, New York and broadcasting at a frequency of 1120 kHz on the AM band with a daytime power of 1000 watts....
by playing Top 40 hits. Through much of the decade of the 1970s WAXC was relatively successful both financially and in popularity (as measured by Arbitron ratings). But after 7 years of competition, toward the end of which FM stations started to cut into the audiences and revenues of both WAXC and WBBF, the callsign WAXC was retired and the station sold to American General Media, beginning the era of WWWG ("3WG"). At first the station operated with a full-service adult contemporary format reminiscent of the final years of Gannett ownership, competing directly with big-signal WHAM. But the station's more limited AM signal proved to be a greater liability at a time when suburbanization was spreading out the market's population geographically beyond the station's reliable nighttime pattern, and FM competition was growing. So the days of secular contemporary-format programming came to an end early in the 1980s.
American General Media repositioned the station as a religious outlet and announced that the callsign WWWG (originally chosen simply as an easily remembered brand name) would stand for "Where We Worship God". While most Rochester commercial stations had broadcast various church and synagogue services and other religious programming at some point in their history, and Pat Robertson's CBN network had owned a chain of rural FM stations whose signals could be heard in portions of the market, WWWG's policy of religious programming around the clock earned it the distinction of being the city of Rochester's first fulltime religious radio station. WWWG offered a mix of evangelical religious programming among other brokered shows
Brokered programming
Brokered programming is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot commercials...
.
In the summer of 2003 WWWG was purchased by Buffalo based Holy Family Communications to become the network's fourth Catholic radio venture. Holy Family created The Station of the Cross
The Station of the Cross
The Station of the Cross is a network of Catholic radio stations owned and operated by Holy Family Communications. It is an affiliate of the EWTN Global Catholic Radio network.- Current stations :-Former stations:- External links :*...
as a network name and rebranded 1460 as WHIC, for the "Holy and Immaculate Conception". The similarity of the new name to the original WHEC (whose calls carry on by the local television station, WHEC-TV
WHEC-TV
WHEC-TV, channel 10, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Rochester, New York, USA. WHEC-TV is owned by Saint Paul, Minnesota-based Hubbard Broadcasting, and broadcasts from a studio/office facility on East Avenue in Downtown Rochester...
), may certainly also be a nod to the historic roots of the station. WHIC began carrying Catholic programming 24 hours a day, with much of the content provided by the EWTN Catholic Radio Network.
You can visit WHIC's website here http://www.whicradio.com/